Some $4.8 million in state funds are coming to central Illinois to pay for renovations at three colleges and universities. Chief among that money, announced by Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday during a visit to the school, is $2.9 million to fund health science and other labs and classrooms at Bradley Un...

Some $4.8 million in state funds are coming to central Illinois to pay for renovations at three colleges and universities.

Chief among that money, announced by Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday during a visit to the school, is $2.9 million to fund health science and other labs and classrooms at Bradley University's recently renovated Westlake Hall.

"These investments pay dividends ... in educated people who make a difference," Quinn said while praising such STEM education - science, technology, engineering and math - efforts that are being bulked up at schools across the state.

Enhanced offerings in science programs are also on the drawing board at Eureka College, where $716,000 will be used to help renovate the Vennum-Binkley Science Hall, first built in 1916 and "in dire need of renovation," college President J. David Arnold said.

The money is coming from the state's six-year, $30 billion capital construction bill, and Arnold said it will go a long way toward ensuring the project's success.

"We're able to start our project almost a year ahead of when we thought we would be able to," Arnold said.

Overall the renovations there will cost more than $5 million, with the remainder coming from private funds.

An additional $1.2 million was set aside for Illinois Wesleyan University in Normal to install sprinkler systems in campus residence halls. Some schools are still working to meet a state requirement to have the fire-suppression devices placed in on-campus student dwellings.

The Westlake Hall renovation increased six-fold the size of one of the oldest buildings on Bradley's campus. The construction work there is already completed, but because of the way the state capital bill was structured the third and final portion of financing for projects in the six-year bill didn't become available until this summer.

Projects in the capital bill are funded through a separate, dedicated revenue stream and are not dependent upon cash from the state's beleaguered General Fund.